No, not the soon to be ex-South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson, but Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor (pictured).

The Labor Party member, speaking at a Sydney conference put on by the Australian Council on Children and the Media and Macquarie University, which examined the impact of violence and sexualized media on children, expressed concern over motion-sensing controls for videogames, saying, “Computer game manufacturers encourage users to put down their control pads and participate physically in a game through motion-sensing technology.”

This led O’Connor to proclaim:

These interactive features are set to increase the impact of the material being enjoyed by consumers.

We need to consider how increased interactivity will impact on children and what this means for content regulation.

Professor Craig Anderson of Iowa State University, no stranger to this website, was also at the conference and seemed to agree with O’Connor’s concern, stating:﻿

To the extent that practising the actual motions of killing in different ways actually improves someone's skill, you sort of have to ask yourself: 'Do we want a generation of people who know how to kill people with knives and swords and guns?'

You want your military to be able to do certain things, certain very unpleasant things. That's why we have a military. But do you want ten-year-olds to be able to do that?

O’Connor also is wary of the coming onslaught of 3D displays, as well as DVDs that allow users to change viewing angles, stating that such technology contains the “potential for greater interactivity.”

A recent article in the Onion also expresses concern with the Wii’s motion controls, though for an entirely different reason.

As a long term martial arts instructor (>20 years) and being a gamer too boot, the amazing amount of stupidity in both these people is mind boggling. Something one of my teachers told me a long time ago was that, "The uneducated with weapons in their hands are far more dangerous to themselves than others," and you only need to look at any random night of 'Funniest Home Videos' to see some guy smacking himself in the head/crotch with a pair of nun-chuku (they probably didn't send in the videos of severed digits/leg wounds), to realise the truth of this.

Any child who sat down and played a game of say, Red Steel 2, and then went out and tried to imitate the motions against anyone who didn't stand there like a stunned deer is more likely to harm themselves than physically put someone else in danger. Playing an interactive Wii game or any of the next generation set of games will give someone the same amount of ability and skill to use a weapon as watching say, a season of Monkey Magic. That is to say not bloody much.

I'm a perfect example of this. I've been exposed to guns through media and games for decades. I'm a rather good shot on Point Blank, and could probably hit a person if a loaded gun was put in my hands. But apart from basic ideas I've assumed from watching movies (which are probably mostly bull) I know jack all about guns (Aussie, so not wildly common down here.) Put a long staff or katana in my hands, weapons I've been training with for close to a decade on the other hand, and no-one could get close to me.

Unfortunately I'm sure we're going to be bombarded with another decade of "Beware the coming interactivity, OooOOoohh" bullshit until people who're familiar with it get to positions of public power.

You know, there used to be a time when teaching children how to do dangerous things was considered a GOOD thing since then they would have an idea of what actions could result in serious injury.

Not saying that these motion controllers accomplish this, but the basic idea he is fighting.... gah.

I can recall in my region, both gun and knife saftey were big deals. You learned how both of those devices COULD kill, so you knew exactly what NOT to do with them under the logic that ignorance results in accidents.

""To the extent that practising the actual motions of killing in different ways actually improves someone's skill, you sort of have to ask yourself: 'Do we want a generation of people who know how to kill people with knives and swords and guns?'"

At current the motion sensing technology is so far removed from the actual act that is on screen that the flailing motion needed to make the game character stab with a sword is as "good" of training in actual sword useage as masturbation is training for using a jackhammer.

As far as having a "generation who know hot to kill with knives, swords, and guns", It's not really that difficult to work out. Try to get the piece of metal into the chest and/or heart. Repeat until cessation of a heartbeat.

-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-

As far as having a "generation who know hot to kill with knives, swords, and guns", It's not really that difficult to work out. Try to get the piece of metal into the chest and/or heart. Repeat until cessation of a heartbeat.

True. I'd be more concerned about a generation that can't figure out how to kill with knives, swords and guns.

Ever see a child wave a stick around and pretend it's a sword? I imagine this won't do much to fool kids into thinking it's real.

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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.

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Debates are like merry go rounds.
Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.

...are martial arts allowed to be taught to the public in Austrailia? These pols might want to check into that because I heard that students learn to practice repetitions of motions that mimic violent actions. Someone please think of the children and ban these horrible Karate Katas before they program another generation of killers!

" To the extent that practising the actual motions of killing in different ways actually improves someone's skill, you sort of have to ask yourself: 'Do we want a generation of people who know how to kill people with knives and swords and guns?' "

Is this argument STILL present in violent videogame debates? I'm astonished ... I think it was back during Columbine when people exclaimed that the killers "learnt" how to use guns by playing DooM.

... You know, despite the fact that it's common sense in how to practically use weapons, in fact, movies and all other media show it just fine. You swing a sword at someone to cut them, you point a (loaded) gun at someone and pull the trigger. There isn't some insurmountable disconnect in the comprehension of how to use them, one that games instantly make in someone's head.

I swear, it's like these people are jealous of the attention that technology gets in the news and are desperate for some in return.

In other words, yes, we do, because if you can't figure out how to kill someone with stuff that's designed to inflict massive damage, you're frakking stupid.

The reason that you're supposed to keep dangerous items like knives, swords, and guns away from kids, including ten-year-olds, is that it's so easy to figure out how to hurt someone with them that a four-year-old could figure it out.

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PHX Corp: I launched my spotify account today, and I kinda went a little overboard with adding music03/31/2015 - 3:59pm

Sora-Chan: Con't. Games like AC are a pain to someone like me who likes to play games in order. So when a game gets too many releases too quickly, it puts me off. Only exceptions are games that have no interconnected underlying stories like the FF games.03/31/2015 - 2:53pm

Sora-Chan: Wikipedia has rarely let me down on matters like this. But yeah... AC needs a break.. like two.. or three... or eight years.03/31/2015 - 2:51pm

Conster: There's 9 already?! I think I played 1, 2, and the ones inbetween 2 and 3.03/31/2015 - 2:23pm

Sora-Chan: Con't There are now Nine... of just the main entries into the series. There are 13 more in the "other games" department.03/31/2015 - 2:15pm

Sora-Chan: I tried to get into AC. Was having a decent time with the first one, at which point they had already released three titles. Then a fourth came out... then a fifth... the wall kept growing before I could finish the first.03/31/2015 - 2:14pm

Daniel Lewis: I think ubisoft should give AC a break before it's milked to death,and i'm a big fan of the games03/31/2015 - 1:15pm

Daniel Lewis: The only thing said i disagree with is the final quote on Men's experiences are seen to be universal but women are gendered,though doesn't anita say that games with male protagonists are male power fantasies,so in turn both are gendered03/31/2015 - 1:08pm

Daniel Lewis: i found the video to be much better than any of the TvW series and it's about time the positive women are put in the spotlight03/31/2015 - 1:06pm

Daniel Lewis: So feministfrequency released a positive female character video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXmj2yJNUmQ03/31/2015 - 1:05pm

Daniel Lewis: I think the guy who made the direct leak said it was an april fools joke when a real one was announced03/31/2015 - 12:43pm

MaskedPixelante: No way Nintendo would let information like that get out. Remember, they shut down a memoir about the localization of Earthbound by enforcing a 20 year old NDA on the author.03/31/2015 - 12:42pm

james_fudge: Conster: the larger issue is that Ind. does not protect LGBTQ+ people under state law03/31/2015 - 12:11pm

PHX Corp: @MP I think it is confirmed(not an April Fools joke) http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/31/nintendo-direct-confirmed-for-wednesday-april-1st/03/31/2015 - 12:00pm

Conster: Apparently Pence intends to amend SB101 so denying service isn't allowed - without explicitly protecting LGBT+ and while still allowing the many other things you can get away with now if it's motivated by your religious beliefs.03/31/2015 - 11:53am

MaskedPixelante: http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/30/rumour-nintendo-direct-on-april-1st/ A supposed full leak of tomorrow's Nintendo Direct, so you can all laugh and laugh about how wrong it is.03/31/2015 - 11:35am

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/why-a-tekken-7-character-is-being-called-a-phoney-1694724959 Why a Tekken 7 Character Is Being Called a Phoney03/31/2015 - 10:08am

Michael Chandra: Argh. Anyway, I'm glad that move was made. Wonder if it counts, can he just declare it like that? 03/31/2015 - 9:27am